Missouri Sports Betting Ballot Measure Approved By Voters
Missouri citizens authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting, books to take bets next year.
The sports betting tally measure passed by a slim majority early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri permit mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis metro locations with Missouri, respectively.
Missouri is the 39th state to approve legal sportsbooks and the 31st to green light statewide mobile wagering. It is the only state to authorize sports betting this year.
” Missouri has some of the best sports betting fans worldwide and they appeared big for their preferred groups on Election Day,” Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a declaration. “On behalf of all six of Missouri’s expert sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax earnings to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a brand-new, dedicated, permanent funding stream for Missouri classrooms.”
Missouri sports betting next actions
Voter approval implies as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 readily available licenses are utilized.
DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the “yes” campaign and will certainly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 “untethered” licenses offered without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying cost).
Six licenses are offered to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the tally step, will likely utilize its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally’s (Bally Bet) will also likely introduce their particular books.
The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains uncertain if they will release mobile sportsbooks.
The staying 6 licenses are reserved for each of the major professional sports betting teams that play home games in Missouri: MLB’s Kansas City Royals and Cardinals, the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, NHL’s St. Louis Blues, MLS’ St. Louis City SC and the NWSL’s Kansas City Current. The sports betting organizations were among the most popular supporters of the ballot procedure.
Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers need to anticipate other prominent nationwide brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.
Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Reside In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Acid Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars
Missouri’s ballot step permits every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the six casino operators are expected to open in-person wagering choices such as wagering kiosks and possibly committed, full-service sportsbooks.
The six sports betting groups can also open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their particular home playing venues. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the ballot procedure needs the very first certified sportsbooks to begin accepting wagers by Dec. 1, 2025. Operators will likely work with regulators to go live before kick-off of the fall 2025 football season, perennially books’ most financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting background
The successful Missouri sports betting project comes regardless of millions in funding opposing the step from among the state’s largest gambling stakeholders.
Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the measure. In the majority of other states that connect online sports betting with a state’s brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is granted at least one license per handled residential or commercial property.
Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least three potential licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open additional in-house books or, more typically, farm out the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting wagering handle market share, could potentially have an upper hand on their rivals by making the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, however the language around the tally procedure would appear to favor the 2 national market leaders.
Polling previously in the year revealed the “yes” vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were reinforced by 10s of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of tv and radio advertisements concentrated on the income legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mostly by Caesars, argued the supporters’ ads were deceptive and the tens of millions of projected dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that currently spends billions on education every year.
